Smart Planet Technologies to speak at the Rising Tide Summit

Leading engineering company for sustainable packaging materials, Smart Planet Technologies, to speak about the reCUP® recyclable paper cup and EarthCoating® with ocean conservation leaders and businesses

Smart Planet Technologies will be presenting at the Rising Tide Summit, scheduled to take place in San Pedro, CA on the 27th and 28th of March, 2019. The materials engineering and intellectual property company will be speaking about reCUP and EarthCoating, their recyclable solutions designed to address the 50 billion paper cups that end up in US landfills each year.

Paper cups are a mixed material, comprised of paper and plastic. Conventional recycling systems are not designed to process the plastic coatings usually found in paper cups, so paper cups are typically diverted to landfills.

Smart Planet Technologies has developed EarthCoating, a barrier coating for paper cups and other paper products that is fully compatible with conventional paper recycling. EarthCoating contains 51% less plastic than conventional coatings, and the reCUP, made with EarthCoating, can be pulped into recycled paper using conventional paper recycling equipment. A paper cup that is compatible with recycling systems is a valuable material to recover for use in the production of recycled paperboard products.

Recycling is an optimal end-of life solution for paper cups because it supports a circular economy, as paper materials can be recycled up to seven times. The solution has already become a global phenomenon, with millions of paper cups across having been sold by packaging manufacturers and distributors including Detpak, CupPrint, VaioPak, Pureco, Linstol, Bunzl, Sysco, and more.

Attendees of the event will be served coffee in reCUPs, which will be collected for recycling into new paper products by Allan Company, a leading materials recycling service provider, upon the completion of the 2-day event.

“The first step to getting paper cups recycled is to make them valuable and easy for recyclers to process through their conventional recycling equipment,” said Todd Gasparik, Vice President of Business Development for Smart Planet Technologies and presenter at the Rising Tide Summit.

“Solving tough problems requires a thirst for innovation.” Said Vipe Desai, Founder of the Rising Tide Summit and CEO of HDX. “Smart Planet Technologies is bringing forth a solution that is long overdue and is already having an impact on the marketplace. It’s exactly the type of innovation needed and attendees are going to have a chance to experience and learn all about their technology.”

The Rising Tide Summit is underwritten by the X Prize Foundation and Marisla Foundation, and will be attended by several NGO's that are focused on waste diversion, plastic reduction, increased recycling rates, and ocean conservation. Some of the participating NGO's are Ocean Institute, 5 Gyres, Final Straw, and AltaSea.

Panel info:

Environmental Entrepreneurs: Problem Solvers in Action

Entrepreneurs are hard wired to solve problems and in this conversation, President and CEO of the Ocean Institute, Dan Pingaro, will sit with two entrepreneurs who are using business as a force for good. The problems of single-use plastic straws and un-recyclable paper cups might just be about to meet their match.

Their businesses are built on solving issues related to waste and we’ll learn how they’re doing, where they’re going and what can businesses and NGOs learn from their efforts.